{"id":393,"date":"2014-01-25T09:40:21","date_gmt":"2014-01-25T14:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/?p=393"},"modified":"2016-12-17T05:54:37","modified_gmt":"2016-12-17T10:54:37","slug":"well-take-a-cup-okindness-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/well-take-a-cup-okindness-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"We’ll Take a Cup o’Kindness Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Auld<\/a><\/p>\n

January’s perhaps the most important month of them all in Scotland, for it holds what may be the country’s two most important celebrations: New Year’s Day at the start, and at the close, Burns’ Night.<\/p>\n

Each 25th of January we celebrate the birth of the great Scottish poet Robert Burns. Burns’ Night suppers are held throughout Scotland, and the meals typically include Scottish dishes like haggis served with neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes), together with a wee dram of whisky accompanied by the recitation of plenty of Burns’ poetry. A good place to begin is with the “Selkirk Grace,” an old suppertime grace that Mr. Burns made a bit more Scottish\u00a0through the addition of the Scots dialect.<\/p>\n

Some hae meat and canna eat,<\/em>
\n And some wad eat that want it;<\/em>
\n But we hae meat, and we can eat,<\/em>
\n Sae let the Lord be thankit.<\/em><\/p>\n

It may take some time for a non-Highlander to become accustomed to the dialect of Robert Burns’ poems, but it comes with practice (and perhaps an additional wee dram of whisky). It also helps to know someone Scottish. I worked for a long time with a woman from Scotland and to hear Josephine read an instruction manual was not far from hearing someone recite a Burns poem. Anytime I read Burns I just imagine it is Josephine who is speaking to me again, and then it is easy to fall into the rhythm of his words.<\/p>\n

Certainly the night calls for the singing of Burns’ most famous work, the song and poem “Auld Lang Syne,” which translates to Old Long Since, or Old Times.<\/p>\n

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
\nand never brought to mind?
\nShould auld acquaintance be forgot,
\nand auld lang syne?<\/p>\n

\n
CHORUS:<\/dd>\n
For auld lang syne, my jo,
\nfor auld lang syne,
\nwe\u2019ll tak a cup o\u2019 kindness yet,
\nfor auld lang syne.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

And surely ye\u2019ll be your pint-stowp!
\nand surely I\u2019ll be mine!
\nAnd we\u2019ll tak a cup o\u2019 kindness yet,
\nfor auld lang syne.<\/p>\n

\n
CHORUS<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

We twa hae run about the braes,
\nand pu\u2019d the gowans fine;
\nBut we\u2019ve wander\u2019d mony a weary fit,
\nsin auld lang syne.<\/p>\n

\n
CHORUS<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

We twa hae paidl\u2019d i’ the burn,
\nfrae morning sun till dine;
\nBut seas between us braid hae roar\u2019d
\nsin auld lang syne.<\/p>\n

\n
CHORUS<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

And there\u2019s a hand, my trusty fiere!
\nand gie’s a hand o\u2019 thine!
\nAnd we\u2019ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
\nfor auld lang syne.<\/p>\n

\n
CHORUS<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n

And so we look back on old times, and there’s nothing wrong with doing that every now and again. A night like Burns’ Night seems appropriate enough for some sentimental reminiscing and a bit of whisky and an old song with friends. If it brings a tear or two, so be it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January’s perhaps the most important month of them all in Scotland, for it holds what may be the country’s two most important celebrations: New Year’s Day at the start, and at the close, Burns’ Night. Each 25th of January we celebrate the birth of the great Scottish poet Robert Burns. Burns’ Night suppers are held […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4009,"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/4009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conviviobookworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}